Dave Boling: Despite fifth-place finish, Gonzaga leaves the Bahamas on a positive note

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Nov. 30—PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — In the end, they didn’t win the Battle 4 Atlantis.

In fact, No. 3-ranked Gonzaga finished fifth in the eight-team tournament, as none of the highest-ranked teams made it to the title game.

The 90-65 win over Davidson late Friday night, in front of a meager crowd, amounted to a continued Battle 4 Recovery after the overtime loss in the opener Wednesday to West Virginia.

The solid handling of Indiana on Thursday was the first step. And the romp over a resolute Davidson squad offered validation and allows them to take a 7-1 record into the game against Kentucky in Seattle on Saturday.

GU had looked so smooth and synched and interconnected in wins over Baylor and San Diego State and Arizona State, that the high ranking seemed warranted.

So the loss to West Virginia was an eye-opener.

“I think we just let one get away from us,” said Ryan Nembhard, point guard maestro, “We’ve got to be consistent; we can’t have off nights. There’s a lot of things we can learn from this and go back to the drawing board.”

What might be the bullet points on that drawing board?

Surely, the Zags seemed to correct the perimeter-defense issues that contributed to the loss to the Mountaineers.

Another problem raised by West Virginia was what the Zags called “denying our actions.” The interpretation is that the customary entry to plays by Nembhard were being stymied by the Mountaineers’ style of defense.

Coach Mark Few has praised Nembhard several times this season as deserving more national attention. He’s absolutely right. Nembhard’s 39 assists in the three tournament games was an Atlantis record, and his total of 14 against Davidson was the single-game tourney record.

He came into the game leading the nation.

Juggling minutes for the Zag frontcourt will continue to be an evolving calculus. Against Davidson, senior Ben Gregg again played a huge influence, coming off the bench and leading the team with a career-high 24 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the field, along with…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/dave-boling-despite-fifth-place-030300540.html

Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Publish date : 2024-12-01 03:03:00

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